Antidrip device



June 25, 1940.

F. S. ELSAESSER ANTIDRIP DEVICE Filed Feb. 27, 1939 IN VEN TOR. FRANK 5, ELSA E55 ER ATTORNEY Patented June 25, 1940 V 2,205,687

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,205,687 ANTIDRIP nlivion Frank S. Elsaesser, Cincinnati, Ohio Application February 2'], 1939, Serial No. 258,623

2 Claims. (Cl. 65-53) This invention relates to improvements in antifollowing specification, considered in conjunction drip means for receptacles containing iiuld, such with the accompanying drawings forming a part as beer glasses, beer bottles, coffee cups and other thereof, and it is to be understood that any modjbeverage containers, which are utilized in servfications may be made in the exact structural de- 5 ing and consuming drinks in restaurants, bars, tails there shown and described, within the scope 5 the home and similar places where the moisture of the appended claims, without departing from overruns or collects on the exterior of these reor exceeding the spirit of the invention. ceptacles and gravitates to the bottom thereof, In the drawing: so that when the said receptacle is tilted the Fig. 1 is a transverse, sectional view of the antimoisture collects at one point and drips theredrip device or coaster of my invention, mounted 10 from. on the foot of a stem type glass.

I am aware that various attempts have been Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view taken on made'to obviate this condition as by providing a line 22 of Fig. 1, showing in plan the antidrip removable collector to the bottoms of these recepdevice of my invention.

16 tacles, which collectors were removably secured to Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged 16 the said receptacles by spring arms projectingv scale, showing the relation of the parts to one from the collectors, by paper collectors having another prior to assembly. zones of adhesive material thereon to engage the Fig. 4 is a. view similar to Fig. 1, showing a bottoms and sides of receptacles when placed slight modification in the form of the antidrip 20 thereon, by thin foldable material adapted to device, whereby it may be applied to straight go be fastened around the foot of stem type glasses sided containers, such as bottles, tumblers and and by other means more or less effectively solvthe like. ing the problem of drip from fluid receptacles. Fig. 5 is a view, partly in elevation and partly However, these prior structures were failures for in section, showing the use of an antidrip device various reasons, such as too expensive to manuassociated with a cup and saucer, and accom g facture and use, cumbersome when in'use, replishing the objects of my invention. quiring an excessive amount of time to keep clean Throughout the several views of the drawing, or to put in condition for attachment to the resimilar reference characters are employed to deceptacle after being used. By the means disnote the same or similar parts.

closed herein, all of these disadvantages are suc- A is w ll k ow whe cold drinks, su h as 30 ss u y overcome. d a practical u tur s beer and other mixed drinks which either conprovided. tain ice or are of a temperature well below the It is therefore an object of my invention to protemperature of the room, are Served, moisture vide an antidrip device which is simple to use lects on the outer surface of the glass or other and inexpensive to manufacture. receptacle, and at the same time it is possible 35 Another object f my invention is the P that a small amount of the drink is spilt over sion of an antidrip device Coaster Which can the top. This moisture gravitates to the bottom be pp e bottoms of fluid receptacles, of the receptacle, collecting on the upper surface associated therewith without substantially any of the foot m of the glass H s Shown i i 1 40 effort n t e p rt of the dispenser and thereby 0r collects around the bottom of the sides of the without su st y adding t s of bottle, tumbler or the like l2, illustrated in Fig. 4.

Deming drinks and the like in Said receptacles- While it is true the excess moisture will flow away A further object of my invention is P from the glass or at least spread out around the vision of an antidrip device which is so inexglass, a goodly portion, due to the adhesion of 4.", pensi e to manufacture that it can have a one moisture, stays on the foot of the glass H and time use and then be destroyed without substanadheres to the lower edge of the bottle, glass or tially increasing he cost f p in the drink the like l2. When the said glass is then raised, in the receptacle or without substantially increasa for drinking purposes, and tilted, the moising the cost of the drink, while at the same time ture adhering thereto flows to the bottom corner so obviating the annoyance resulting from the drip and collects as one or more drops, which, by 0 from the receptacles when tilted and at the same gravity, then falls, and depending upon the positime avoiding the damage to clothing and the tion of the head of the drinker, the drop or drops like which frequently results from this drip. fall on the table just in front of the drinker or Other objects and advantages of my invention miss the table and fall on the drinkers clothing.

should be readily apparent by reference to the- In order to avoid these conditions. I have 55 formed an antidrip device or coaster, in the form of a shallow container, comprising a wafer or circular disc l3 of absorbent material, preferably paper, such as is frequently referred to as blotting paper. This disc is of greater area than the bottom of the receptacle with which it is to be used and the excess material is bent upwardly to form a flange as at I4. In use, the upper end of the flange is outwardly bent or flared, as at l5, to provide a, guiding entrant throat for the bottom of the receptacle to be placed within the shallow container.

- By referring to Fig. 3, the relation of the receptacle to the antidrip device will be readily seen, and as there shown, it will be noted that the flange l4, between the bottom or body 16 of the shallow container and its entrant throat portion I5, is provided with an inward bulge or rib H. The distance within the bulge or rib I1 is less than the distance across the bottom of the receptacle, and which distance is shown by way of example by the dotted line ill on Fig. 3,

while the distance across the outer ends of the entrant throat i5 is somewhat greater than the distance across the bottom of the receptacle, as shown clearly by the dot and dash line l9. From this, it will be seen that by vertically moving the receptacle into the antidrip device, the outer edge of the receptacle engages with the inner surface of the bulge or rib I1 and forces same outwardly, so that it will pass into the antidrip device against the bottom I6. As soon as the bottom I6 is reached, the flanges l4 spring back to their normal position and thereby hook the antidrip device to the bottom of the receptacle.

The foregoing description deals primarily with the application of an antidrip device to a footedor stem type glass, such as the glass ll disclosed in Fig. 1. It will be appreciated, however, that substantially the same conditions would exist when using a straight sided bottle or glass, such as illustrated at l2 in Fig. 4, except that, instead of the rib l4 springing back to its normal position, it will tend to so spring and tightly engage the sides of the glass, tumbler, or bottle.

As is well known, the absorbent material as above described would permit the moisture to permeate same and may flow onto the table top or other support, and may even allow the moisture to drip therethrough should several drops collect simultaneously at any one point. In order to prevent this, the disc I3 is provided on its exterior surface with a more or less impervious or non-absorbing covering 20. This covering preferably would take the form of hard paper or even a thin cardboard or fibreboard, and may have its exterior surface suitably calendared, to prevent any moisture penetration; this covering may also be formed of a metal foil. This covering will conform in all respects to the exterior formation of the inner absorbent liner. This exterior surface, in addition, materially strengthens the side flanges l4, and at the same time adds considerably to the spring of said flanges for causing same to readily and tightly engage the lower ends of the receptacles with which they may be used.

In Fig. 4, a .slightly modified construction is illustrated in which the upper ends of the side flanges 14, instead of being arcuately turned outward, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, have-these upper ends flared on an angle, as at 2|. By this construction, the antidrip device has a funnel shaped entrant throat 22 which terminates in a substantially cylindrical or straight sided portion 23 which terminates in the bottom l6 of the antidrip device. This antidrip device, similar'tothat above described, is of course formed of readily porous material, covered on its exterior surface with a non-porous layer 20.

The antidrip devices above described are for direct attachment to the receptacles, and retain the moisture within themselves until the receptacle is empty, whereupon the said antidrip de vice is stripped from the receptacle and discarded. As is well known, drinking receptacles, such as cups, have the overflow moisture and fluid collected in the saucers thereof adhering to them, so that when they are raised from the saucer and tilted, this adhering moisture gravitates to the lowest point and drops. I have found that an absorbent liner could be placed within the saucer to wipe off, by absorption, this moisture from the bottom of the cup, so that there is not sufficient moisture thereon to form a drop, whereby a substantially clean, dry cup is being em ployed. In Fig. 5, there is illustrated the use of my antidrip device with a saucer. As will be' readily seen, the antidrip device or liner 24 com prises a bottom 25, similar to the bottomslB and I6 above referred to, from which upwardly and outwardly extends sides 26, similar to the flanges I4 and 23, and with the outer ends of the sides 26 flared as at 21, similar to the flaring upper ends l5 and 2| of the above described antidrip devices. The liner 24, however, as utilized in Fig. 5, needs no non-porous outer layer as the saucer 28 will act as such a member. The flaring ends 21 of the sides 26 is employed for acting as hooks or other fastening means for attaching the liner 24 to the saucer so that the moisture between the cup 29 and the saucer will not act to temporarily secure the liner to the cup and cause the liner to be raised with the cup.

Each of the antidrip devices above referred to afford, in addition to its antidrip function, an excellent medium for advertising purposes. In other words, the upper surface of the bottom l6 of the disc or liner l3, and the upper surface of the bottom 25 of the liner 24, may be suitably embossed, imprinted or the like with indicia for advertising either the content of the receptacle, a companion product, or in fact advertise any product or event.

From the foregoing, it will now be appreciated that I have provided an antidrip device or coaster which accomplishes all the objects initially set forth, in that it is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, can be expeditiously and readily applied to the receptacles for use but once and then destroyed, thereby enhancing sanitation, and leaves no residue or particles sticking to the receptacle which must require extra care and eifort to remove, and keeps the table top, bar top and table cloth substantially clean and dry all the time.

What is claimed is:

1. A preformed, disposable antidrip device for a receptacle, formed of porous paper and comprising a. bottom having an .area substantially equal to the area of the receptacle bottom, sides integral with and extending upwardly from the bottom, said sides, a distance above said bottom, having an inward bulge to provide a restricted passage having an area less than thearea of the receptacle bottom, said sides, above the bulge, being outwardly flared to provide an entrant throat to the restricted passage whereby the bottom of the receptacle passes through the entrant throat and restricted passage to the botom of the antidrip device, and an outer layer of non-porous paper coextensive in area and of a congruent shape with the porous paper covering the entire exterior surface of said porous paper, the nonporous paper having the ability to grip and retain the antidrip device on the receptacle.

2. A preformed, disposable antidrip device for stem and footed type receptacles, formed of a disc of porous paper and comprising a bottom having an area substantially equal to the area of the receptacle foot, sides integral with and extending upwardly from the bottom, said sides, a distance above said bottom, substantially equal to the thickness of the foot, having an inward bulge to provide a restricted passage having an area less than the area of the receptacle foot, and said sides, above said bulge, being outwardly flared to provide an entrant throat to the restricted passage to the bottom of the antidrip device and the bulge overlying the receptacle foot, and an outer layer of non-porous paper co-extensive in area and of a congruent shape with the disc of porous paper and covering the entire exterior surface of said disc and the non-porous paper having the ability to grip and retain the antidrip device on the receptacle foot.

FRANK S. ELSAESSER. 

